http://www.openra.net/OpenRA - News Feed2017-10-14T20:00:00ZOpenRA developershttp://www.openra.nettag:www.openra.net,2017-10-14:/news/release-20171014/Release 201710142017-10-14T20:00:00Z2017-10-14T20:00:00Z<p>After three months of public playtesting we are pleased to finally declare “Mission Accomplished” on the new OpenRA release! Release 20171014 makes some fundamental changes to the way that the OpenRA game engine works, plus a few similarly important gameplay changes to the default mods.</p>
<p>The first big change will be visible as soon as you go to launch your favourite mod. The in game mod chooser has been removed, and mods are now launched directly from your operating system. This is part of a much larger set of changes to the game engine to support multiple OpenRA installations and the new <a href="https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRAModSDK">Mod SDK</a>.</p>
<div style="text-align:center">
<p><img src="/images/news/20171014-dmg.png" width="600" alt="New launchers" /></p>
<p>The mod chooser screen has been replaced by separate launchers for each mod.</p>
</div>
<p>The next big change is the new command bar at the bottom of the screen. This new UI improves discoverability for several advanced unit commands and served as a focus for several gameplay changes related to unit stances and the Attack Move command – read through the in game button tooltips to find out more!</p>
<div style="text-align:center">
<p><img src="/images/news/20171014-commandbar.png" width="600" alt="Unit command bar" /></p>
<p>A new bottom command bar is now available for issuing common orders and changing unit stances.</p>
</div>
<p>The final group of big changes is less obvious, but just as important: the way that buildings are targeted and take damage has been reworked (taking inspiration from the original Dune 2000) to account for the size of the building footprint. This has a range of balance implications, for example Tanya and Commandos no longer need to run to the center of buildings to demolish them.</p>
<p>Other great new features in this release include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Automatic discovery of LAN games in the Multiplayer browser.</li>
<li>Nine more campaign missions for D2K, which is now half way complete!</li>
<li>New search and filtering options in the Map editor.</li>
<li>Installing missing maps from the Replay browser.</li>
<li>Improvements to the Global Chat UI.</li>
<li>Significant performance and memory improvements relating to music playback.</li>
<li>Community-driven balance improvements to Red Alert and Tiberian Dawn.</li>
</ul>
<p>See the <a href="https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA/wiki/Changelog/a67b1a681084e32579d4ef9e92afbb3207ed441e">full changelog</a> for more details, or go directly to our <a href="/download/">download page</a> to try them out for yourself.</p>
<div style="text-align:center">
<p><img src="/images/news/20170722-td-buildinghitshapes.png" alt="Building hit boxes" /></p>
<p>New building physics improves the way that structures are targeted and take damage.</p>
</div>
<p>Supporting the C&amp;C modding community has always been an important goal for OpenRA, and this release takes a big, but disruptive, step forward in this area.
Back in April we announced the planned <a href="/news/release-20170421/">mod chooser removal</a>, and in July we released the first version of the <a href="/news/playtest-20170722/">OpenRA Mod SDK</a> that replaces it. From now on, all mods should be built using the SDK, which makes it easy for you to build your own stand-alone installers that do not rely on a base OpenRA installation. See the SDK <a href="https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRAModSDK/wiki/Getting-Started">getting started</a> wiki page for more details!</p>
<p>Other improvements for modders include further adoption of trait conditions, improved error checks and logging, and a collection of new and improved game logic for energy walls, tunnels, and subterranean units.</p>
<p>It has been a long road to this release, and we hope you enjoy it!</p>
tag:www.openra.net,2017-09-30:/news/playtest-20170930/Playtest 201709302017-09-30T18:00:00Z2017-09-30T18:00:00Z<p>Thanks to everybody who reported issues with <a href="http://www.openra.net/news/playtest-20170923/">playtest-20170923</a> last week, today we are releasing another playtest with several more fixes. <a href="http://www.openra.net/download/">Playtest 20170930</a> includes:</p>
<ul>
<li>Fixed in-game map installation on Linux and Windows</li>
<li>Fixed a crash when using Attack Move</li>
<li>Fixed incorrect global chat timestamps when returning to the lobby after a match</li>
<li>Added RA minelayer deployment to the command-bar</li>
<li>Improved attack-move cursor behaviour outside the map</li>
</ul>
<p>See the <a href="https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA/wiki/Changelog/2614e763116f1923d41589d2f5e365983e5c825f">full changelog</a> if you are interested in finding more details on these fixes, or head on over to our <a href="http://www.openra.net/download/">download page</a> to try it out!</p>
<p>We believe that we have finally addressed all the major issues with the playtests, so our planned October release should be identical to this playtest. If you know of any remaining bugs that should be fixed before then, report them immediately via <a href="http://www.sleipnirstuff.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=80">our forum</a>, our <a href="https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA/issues">GitHub issue tracker</a>, or in the comments below.</p>
tag:www.openra.net,2017-09-24:/news/playtest-20170923/Playtest 20170923 now available for testing2017-09-24T20:00:00Z2017-09-24T20:00:00Z<p>With two months and <a href="http://www.openra.net/news/playtest-20170722/">two</a> <a href="http://www.openra.net/news/playtest-20170902/">playtests</a> behind us, we are now almost ready to push the next OpenRA release!</p>
<p>We are today releasing one last (planned) playtest with two notable changes:</p>
<ul>
<li>An “Assault Move” modifier has been added to Attack Move to make units always target buildings (overriding their active stance) while attack moving.</li>
<li>Music playback has been reworked to fix the pausing and skipping issues that have been reported by some players on the previous playtests.</li>
</ul>
<p>…plus a handful of other minor fixes that are listed in the <a href="https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA/wiki/Changelog/220e5f8c63171bf17cbc9004514340e03d986e7d">full changelog</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRAModSDK/releases/tag/20170923">Mod SDK</a> has also been updated to use the new engine version, and to create “portable” windows packages that do not require installation.</p>
<div style="text-align:center">
<p><img src="/images/news/20170923-assaultmove.gif" alt="New civilian tech buildings" /></p>
<p>Hold <span style="color: #FFD700;">Ctrl</span> when issuing an Attack Move order to activate Assault Move.</p>
</div>
<p>This playtest will be your last chance to report any bugs or balance issues, so we encourage everybody to play a few games, and let us know of any issues via <a href="http://www.sleipnirstuff.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=80">our forum</a>, our <a href="https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA/issues">GitHub issue tracker</a>, or in the comments below. As usual, you can find playtest-20170923 on our <a href="http://www.openra.net/download/">download page</a>.</p>
tag:www.openra.net,2017-09-02:/news/playtest-20170902/Playtest 20170902 available!2017-09-02T20:00:00Z2017-09-02T20:00:00Z<p>A month after the previous playtest, we’re pleased to announce the new release candidate, <a href="http://www.openra.net/download/">playtest-20170902</a>.</p>
<p>In addition to all the new features and improvements <a href="http://www.openra.net/news/playtest-20170722/">the previous playtest</a> brought along, in this new playtest we fixed over 40 issues that were identified through feedback from players and modders. Among the more noticable ones were the movement ‘stuttering’ that ground units were showing, air units sporadically returning to base as well as some issues with the new command bar and some other UI hiccups.</p>
<p>Furthermore, the Red Alert mod in particular received a larger balance overhaul, along with a new map (Agenda). ‘Agenda’ and the updated ‘Great Sahara 2’ now serve as examples of more prominent use of civilian ‘tech’ structures that provide various benefits when captured.</p>
<div style="text-align:center">
<p><img src="/images/news/20170902-agenda-civ-tech.png" alt="New civilian tech buildings" /></p>
<p>The new capturable civilian tech structures, displayed on the new map Agenda. Forward Command provides build space, Communications Center reveals terrain.</p>
</div>
<p>Tiberian Dawn’s balance received some further polishing as well, making bridges more robust (in particular to light weapons and flames) as well as making Orcas and rocket infantry less effective versus infantry in general.</p>
<p>A new version of the Mod SDK is <a href="https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRAModSDK/releases/tag/20170902">also now available</a> with a few improvements and bug fixes. The big new feature is the ability to <a href="https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRAModSDK/wiki/Generating-Release-Installers">automatically create installers</a> for your mod “in the cloud”. We encourage everyone who is working on mods for the last release to try out the Mod SDK and report back any issues you find or suggestions that you may have, so that we can iron out any remaining issues before the legacy oramod infrastructure is removed.</p>
<p>The new playtest can be <a href="http://www.openra.net/download/">downloaded here</a>.</p>
<p>Just like with the last playtest, we ask you to give this a try and report any bugs or balance issues you might come across, as this will likely be the last playtest before the next release.
The changelog for this playtest (as well as the previous one) can be found here: <a href="https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA/wiki/Changelog/04b8887b703daf31a2512edfe308cf61ee2a4169">changelog</a></p>
<hr />
<p>In other news, Red Alert Global League public registration is closed now. There is still several days before the new season kicks off, but we can now firmly state that this is definitely the biggest open OpenRA tournament to date with a whopping 70 players registered! Will General FiveAces be ready to confront the now unbeatable Lorrydriver and grab back the reign as the triple League champion? Stay tuned for league updates and match highlights!</p>
<div style="text-align:center">
<p><img src="/images/news/20170902-ragl-iv-gnrl.jpg" alt="RAGL IV starting soon!" /></p>
</div>
tag:www.openra.net,2017-08-11:/news/ragls4-registrations/Red Alert Global League Season 4 Registrations Are Online2017-08-11T22:00:00Z2017-08-11T22:00:00Z<div style="text-align:center">
<p><img src="/images/news/20170812-ragl-IV.png" alt="Red Alert Global League Season 4" /></p>
</div>
<p>Greetings, commanders!</p>
<p>The fourth iteration of the Red Alert Global League is already in the works, planned to be held from September 11th till December 11th. As always, public registrations are open to anyone willing to participate as well as to those who have already spilled some enemy blood on the grass, snow and desert tiles. Don’t be late as registrations are only open till August 31st. This is your chance to stand against the best Red Alert masters there is, and to add to that there is also a money prize pool involved.</p>
<p>League rules and regulations can be found in <a href="http://www.sleipnirstuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=82&amp;t=20234">this forum thread</a>; registration guidelines are in <a href="http://www.sleipnirstuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=82&amp;t=20235">this thread</a>.</p>
<p>We wish all participants the best of luck and a lot of fun! Lets rock!</p>